Search results

The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon teaching the history of marketing thought.

The paper describes the role of the history of marketing thought within a marketing theory seminar at masters level. It presents how the history of thought aspect changed as the theory course evolved.

It is possible to feature a historical component within a masters programme. Adaptations and limitations exist when teaching a historical perspective at a masters versus doctoral level.

The history of marketing thought provides a means of connecting marketing academic study to marketing's lineage and genealogy with the intention of promoting historically versed graduates. It can differentiate between the evolution of marketing thought and the development of marketing practice. From a pedagogical perspective, it facilitates informed discussion, critical reflection and analytical thinking in newcomers to the subject.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on an unusual course, a historically focused course on marketing theory taught to a range of students from their fourth year of study through to the doctoral level.

The staff, who have taught the course since before 2000 to date, reflect on its purpose, the curriculum and the student experience.

Studying the history of marketing theory has considerable value for able and engaged students, especially those wishing to proceed to masters or doctoral level study. Students who are exposed to the history of marketing thought are also likely to be better prepared for the business of the future.

The originality of this paper is centered on the uniqueness of the course being taught; insights are provided into this unusual curriculum.

The purpose of this paper is to construct a general theory of the marketing system that addresses the fundamental question: why do marketing systems occur, survive and grow?

The approach integrates the concepts and constructs contained in special and mid-range theories, scattered throughout the history of marketing thought, into a logically coherent set of propositions (including definitions, axioms, theorems, scientific laws, bridge laws and hypotheses) that comprise a general theory of the marketing system.

The theoretical answer to why marketing systems arise, survive and grow is because marketing systems offer the most efficient mechanism for supplying products and services that people demand, thereby increasing economic growth, compared to the opportunity costs of alternative methods of acquisition. Based on just two (of several) marketing efficiency theorems, if the input costs of trading decline (law of reduced transaction costs) and/or the output value increases (law of bulk transactions), then marketing system efficiency rises. This creates an upward spiraling cycle: increasing the extent of the market (law of market size), proliferating opportunities for increasing aggregate production efficiency (through the law of comparative advantage and the law of division of labor), thereby further proliferating opportunities for aggregate marketing system efficiency (e.g. law of central markets, law of marketing specialists), thus fueling further aggregate economic growth (until limited by the law of diminishing returns, the law of the minimum resource or the law of market size). An empirically testable central hypothesis is derived from the propositions: increasing aggregate marketing system efficiency provides both the necessary and sufficient conditions for increasing aggregate economic growth in a society.

The value of developing a general theory of the marketing system is to advance the marketing discipline as a social science. Additionally, a general theory is likely to enhance academic thinking, improve business practice and facilitate interaction among academicians and practitioners. Further, a general theory could also reduce disciplinary fragmentation, avoid identity confusion and lessen the credibility crisis in marketing, among others.

The paper aims to argue, while examining the history of marketing theory in India, that the discipline is ahistorical, serves large business interests and is shaped by hegemonic Western knowledge.

The primary sources of data were the marketing doctoral dissertations, working papers, teaching material and research publications produced in the top management schools in India from the 1960s up to the present period.

The historical review reveals that the marketing theory in India is characterized by dependence on the West and elision of the country’s rich business history. It further shows that the discipline in India focuses on research problems and issues which are more appropriate to a Western context, and remains detached from local realities. Moreover, the discipline is characterized by a narrow managerial orientation.

Findings from the paper will be of value to researchers who wish to understand the Indian marketing thought.

Findings from the paper will be of value to academics and policy makers who wish to create more independent and contextually informed and sensitive management programs.

The paper reveals the extent to which the education and institutions in India are influenced by the West, and aims to motivate academics and policy makers to understand local knowledge and ways of knowing.

The main contribution of this paper is to show that the marketing discipline in India has been ahistorical and is shaped by hegemonic Western knowledge.

The purpose of this paper is to argue that the function of history in critical marketing studies centres on the issue of contextualisation. It aims to put forward the idea that historically informed critical marketing studies highlight that key institutions, actors and scholarly writings have all helped to constitute, perform and destabilise marketing theory, thought and practice in ways that reflect multiple constellations of interests.

By way of an engagement with various strands of the literature, it is suggested that the history of marketing thought and marketing history are riven with power relations. They include economically derived power relations and culturally significant changes in the social environment. However, while important, they are only part of a more pluralistic tapestry of factors that come from sometimes completely unrelated areas that helped constitute the conditions which fostered a given area of inquiry, debate and so on, in marketing and consumer research.

Weaved into accounts such as those articulated within critical marketing studies are attempts to rethink aspects of theory, concept formation, thought, practice and institutions that have assumed a taken‐for‐granted status.

This account is based on a detailed reading of interdisciplinary debates read into the history of marketing thought and marketing history.

The purpose of this paper is to describe Stanley C. Hollander's doctoral seminar in the history of marketing thought and offer some insights into its uniqueness.

The paper presents a combination of personal reflections, personal interviews, and documentation from the final offering of the course.

Hollander's course was distinctive among such efforts at doctoral education and probably one of the last such seminars in North America.

There has been little written about teaching the history of marketing thought and to date no published account of Hollander's seminar.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate whether there is significant agreement on what constitutes the essential elements for building a general theory of the marketing system.

The method is an historical review of the various concepts, elements, sub-theories, axioms, components, explananda and ingredients proposed by marketing scholars over the past half century who contributed to the development of a general theory of the marketing system.

The main finding is that despite the diversity of terms and concepts found in the marketing literature, there is considerable agreement on the essential elements necessary to build a general theory.

The value of this work is in assembling and organizing the various concepts, elements, sub-theories, axioms, components, explananda and ingredients of a general theory. Scholars are encouraged to examine the pieces and re-join the quest to construct and empirically test a general theory of the marketing system.

The purpose of this review is to examine an early marketing textbook for its insights into concepts and theory that may have relevance today.

To examine the book in light of the commentary provided by numerous scholars over the decades since its publication.

The latter half of the book, about the marketing implications of the “New Deal” response to the “Great Recession” of the 1930s, is out of date; however, the first half offers an insightful analysis of the marketing system and the rudiments of a general theory of marketing.

Providing a rationale for marketing systems and core concepts for building a general theory of marketing, the book therefore has much to recommend it to students of marketing thought and theory.

This book was first reviewed some 80 years ago. With a longer time horizon, and the additional comments by numerous scholars in the historical literature, a more meaningful appraisal of the influence of this work can now be made.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a personal retrospective on six of the key events/experiences that influenced the development of the structure, foundational premises, and models of the resource‐advantage theory of competition.

The paper uses a personal retrospective approach.

The paper finds that six key events influenced the development of resource‐advantage theory: B.J. “Bud” LaLonde emphasizes the works of Alderson; Rob Morgan suggests an article on the resource‐based theory of the firm; Roy Howell suggests a presentation on R‐A theory; Randy Sparks shows a “socialist calculation” article; Kim Boal suggests the Journal of Management Inquiry as a publication outlet; and Bob Phillips discusses his work on “firm effects vs industry effects”. The paper then relates each of the six events to the paths, routes, or procedures that are often proposed as (or reported to be) likely to lead to the development of theories.

By providing the evolutionary history of resource‐advantage theory, the paper provides implications for developing marketing theories.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an historical analysis of an important early contribution to the history of marketing thought literature – the six-book series titled The Knack of Selling – which was published in 1913 and intended as an early training course for salesmanship.

This research utilized a close, systematic reading of The Knack of Selling series and places it in the professional and intellectual context of the early twentieth century. Books published about marketing are primary source materials for any study of the history of marketing thought. In this case, The Knack series constitutes significant primary source material for a study of early thinking about personal selling.

Echoing A.W. Shaw, Watson offers a more sophisticated interpretation of the “one best way” approach associated with Frederick Taylor. Watson’s advice did not entail the repetition of canned sales talks to each customer. His vision of practice was more complicated. Sales presentations were temporally and locationally relative. They were subject to ongoing evolution. As the marketplace changed, as customer needs and interests shifted, so did organizational and salesperson performances. To keep sales talks relevant to the consumer, personnel were encouraged to undertake rudimentary ethnographic research and interviews. Unusually, there is oscillation in the way power relations between marketer and customer were described. While relational themes are present, so are military metaphors.

This is the first systematic reading of The Knack of Selling that has been produced. It is an important contribution to the literature inasmuch as this book set is not in wide circulation. The material itself was significant as an input into scholarship subsequently hailed as seminal within sales management.